Wandering Wednesday: Travel Yourself (Cailin O’neil) discovers Bunol, Spain

For our Wandering Wednesday guest posts we ask a fellow travel blogger to highlight one place (city or entire country) that has been one of the most memorable for them. It can be a fond type of memorable, or “my hair caught on fire, I contracted rabies, and my luggage was stolen”- type of memorable. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We’re taking it all.

For today’s Wandering Wednesday, we’re featuring our good friend Cailin O’neil from Travel Yourself.  Cailin is a Canadian that has been traveling all her life. In the past few years her love of travel and her work in Film & TV have seen her combine her two loves and become a Travel Blogger and Vlogger, making travel videos on every trip she takes in hopes to have her own travel TV show someday soon.

Where to find Cailin O’neil (Travel Yourself):

Website: www.travelyourself.ca, www.cailintravels.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/travelyourself
Twitter: @TravelYourself, @CailinOneil

Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/TravelYourself
Vimeo channel: http://www.vimeo.com/TravelYourself

First things first, Why do you travel?

I started traveling probably before my first birthday. I’ve never not liked it, growing up it was just something my family did, going on trips (mostly on small trips to Ontario or somewhere in the states like Florida, Arizona or Nevada) and as I got older I liked traveling even more and I started traveling farther to Europe and Australia by myself and I haven’t stopped yet. I guess I’ve never given myself the opportunity to not like it.

What brought you to Bunol, Spain?

I decided I wanted to shoot an episode of my own Travel TV show, I found a friend who was a cameraman that was willing to go with me and I had always heard about the famous La Tomatina festival. I also thought that the biggest food fight in the world would make for a good show and Bunol, Spain is exactly where that happens on the last Wednesday of August every year.

What was your most memorable experience (good or bad) from your time in Bunol?

I was interviewing a Danish guy I met on the train and we sat down on some steps that ended up being an old man named Serano’s front stoop. He opened up the door and invited us in, showing us his copious amounts of tomatoes in his kitchen (to throw at people the next day at the fight) and we talked with him in our broken Spanish for the next 2 hours and at the end of that he had invited us back to his place for La Tomatina the next day and agreed to let us film from his roof top.  He said he would have food for us along with beer and sangria and we could use his washroom and shower. We paid a small fee for everything but it was worth it and he was such a hilarious old man it was a great experience and we got some wicked shots of the tomato fight because of it.
Any advice for travelers headed to Bunol?

I have tons of advice like don’t wear flip flops, bring as little stuff with you as possible, protect your camera, wear goggles but that is just for La Tomatina (you can read more tips here). If visiting Bunol, know that the train to get there from Valencia doesn’t leave from the main station and while there be sure to stop and sit at a patio for a cold beer and enjoy people watching in this small town.

How did your experiences in Bunol change you as a person and how you feel about travel?

Going to Bunol for La Tomatina was the start of everything that I am doing now, so it has changed me in a big way. I now travel hoping that I have an experience like that one on every trip I take from now on.

Okay, last question. Where are you headed next and why?

I plan on going to London for the World Travel Market and then maybe Portugal and/or Spain because of course I like Spain and I have just never been to Portugal.

Do you or someone you know have a memorable experience from your travels? Want to be featured on one of our Wandering Wednesday posts? Send an e-mail to captainandclark@gmail.com